Aerovoyce to enter telecom industry; to invest Rs 300 crore

CHENNAI: An NRI backed Adpay Mobile Payment Pvt ltd has planned to launch new telecom service 'Aerovoyce' by next month, targeting five lakh customers in first year of operations, a top official said today.

The company as part of launching the mobile service would invest about Rs 300 crore besides generating employments to 1,000 people, Adpay Mobile Payment India Pvt Ltd., Founder-CEO, Sivakumar Kuppusamy said.

In September 2016, Telecom Ministry said it had received nearly 70 applications for providing telecom services soon after guidelines related to virtual network operator was launched.

The virtual network operator (VNO) will be an entity providing telecom services like mobile landline and Internet, but only as a retailer for full-fledged telecom operators such as BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and the like.

"We are planning to launch the service in Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Puducherry circles on April 14. Our capex (capital expenditure) will be around Rs 300 crore", Kuppusamy told PTI.

"Aerovoyce is new branded telecom. We will pay for the infrastructure from them (existing mobile operators) since we do not own a spectrum. We will be operating through VNO service. Our target is to get five lakh subscribers in first year of operations", Kuppusamy said.

He said he had already invested in couple of telecom companies in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Austria. "Though I have investments there (in foreign telcos), here I will be holding full control (of Aerovoyce)", he said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) pulled up Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for warning subscribers of certain plans that their SIM cards would be deactivated if they do not recharge their pre-paid accounts though these subscribers had the minimum required balance.